Air-screen.



HFH. CUMMINGS.

AIR SOEEEN.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1910.

Patented Feb. L4, 1911.

l W Q l |l| 1 M I W 1W *2 m MM! /5'- i ynuf l umWm]:W W I M'Whmm!iIihhlHHHHINHW 5%. I C v 7 Q if 3% M MJQL HENRY H. CUMMINGS, or NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AIR-SCREEN.

Specification or Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14., 1911.

Application filed February 2, 1910. Serial No. 541,475.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY H. CUM INGS, a citizen of the United States, residlng at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and.

State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Air-Screens, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

Store keepers, proprietors of places of amusement, auctioneers, etc., find it desirable, and' in some cases imperative, to keep the front doors of their establishments open notwithstanding the objection that thereby the wind, dust, etc., from the street is liable to blow into the store or room.

My present invention has for its object the provision of means for preventing the wind,

, dust, etc., from blowing in through the open door, or, stated more broadly, for preventing the transverse -flow of air currents through the opening (of whatever kind) where it is desired to prevent said flow without closing a door or interposing an equivalent closure. I accomplish this object by providing an air veil or screen of air under pressure, flowing in a direction approximately parallel to the plane of the opening at or immediately adjacent said opening. I preferably have the air flow vertically downward, and

' preferably provide exhaust means in the floor for sucking the air downward from the door opening and thence forcing the air around to the top of the opening and downward, so that a forced draft in the form of a thin sheet or veil of air is continually flowing from the top downward to the bottom across the entire door opening. In my preferred construction I provide a vestibule containing means for a plurality of these wind barriers and means-for bending or diverting the veil from a strictly vertical plane so that thereby greater resistance may be offered to an attempted inrush or egress of air.

In-the drawings, in which I have shownone embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view thereof; and Fig. 2 a transverse sectional view thereof.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, I provide adjacent the door opening 1, of the store, amusement hall or other place whose entrance opening it is undesirable to 'close, a vestibule 2 for more or less confining the air at the side, although this is not essential to my invention in its broader aspect, and in the floor or adjacent the bottom portion of the door opening I provide one or more air exhaust passages 3, 4, herein' shown as in the form of slits or long openings provided centrally in floor plates 5 parallel to the sill of the door, said slits 3,

4 opening into exhaust tubes 6, 7, which are connected with the exhaust end of a fan blower or any other suitable apparatus 8.

Opposite the openings 3, 4, are similar openings 9, 10, adjacent the top of the door opening 1, herein shown as in the form f longitudinal nozzles of tubes or pipes 11, 1%, similar to the pipes'6, 7, and connected with the outlet end of the apparatus 8 bysuitable tubes or pipes 13, 14. Thus there is a constant down-pour of air from each pipe 11, 12, and the pipes 6,,7 respectively, there by forming a sheet, veil or screen between each vertical pair of tubes or pipes, as indicated by the arrows 15, 16.

Ordinarily each sheet of air will flow in a vertical plane but I prefer to provide means for causing this sheet or veil of air to be deflected, bulged or curved as indicated at 17, said means, as herein shown, consisting in mounting the tubes 11, 12, to rotate slightly, the roof 18 0f the vestibule on which said tubes are mounted being supported by brackets 19, and apertured at 20 to permit the nozzles 9, 10, to turn in one direction or the other as desired, said turning movement being accomplished by any suitable means as by levers 21, and handle rods 22 secured to tile ends of the tubes or pipes 11, 12. e

In use, when a gust of wind attempts to blow into the store or building through the door opening, it is met by the invisible air barrier 15 and barred further passage. I have found that such an air barrier will block the further passage of an ordinary gust of wind almost as effectually as a solid door. If a strong wind is blowing outdoors or for anyother reason there is a strong der more dense said quietbody of air, so that it cooperates with the two veils or screens 15 and 16-to afford more of a buffer or wall or body of opposition than one screen alone. For still further increasing the efficiency of the walls of air or airscreens, one or both of them maybe bulged outwardly as indicated at 17 simply by turning the nozzles v9, 10 correspondingly by means of the handles 22 and cranks 21. The vestibule 2 also cooperates with the invisible air veils or screens 15, 16 to render their operation more effective. a

While, for obvious reasons, it is preferable to have the air shield move downward, I do not intend to limit my invention thereto, and also it will be understood that I am not limited to various of the constructional details and preferred embodiments of the invention, as will be apparent from the following claims.

It will be understood that I have used the openingssuch as doorways, window openings, etc., in buildings and other structures Where such an invisible curtain or barrier is feasible.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a doorway, of exhaust means having a long narrow opening adjacent the bottom of-the doorway, and

cooperating forced draft means having a long narrow opening adjacent the top of the doorway whereby a sheet-like blast of air may be maintained between said openings across the doorway.

2. The combination with a doorway, of means for maintaining a plurality of sheetlike blasts of air blowing approximately parallel to the doorway and having an intirvening neutral air space inclosed between t em.

3. The combination with a doorway, of

parallel to the doorway and having an intervening neutral air space-between them, and

means for deflecting one of said sheet-like blasts of air midway of its travel across the doorway.

4:. The combination with a doorway, of apparatus for maintaining a barrier of rapidly moving air having a sheet-like extent, said apparatus including means for maintaining one end of said sheet of air adjacent the top of the doorway and the other end thereof adjacent the bottom of the doorway. I

5. The combination with a doorway, of apparatus for maintaining a barrier of rapidly moving air having a sheetlike extent, said apparatus including a longitudinally apertured air-delivery pipe located adjacent the top of the doorway, a longitudinally apertured exhaust pipe located adjacent the bottom of the doorway, and mechanism for maintaining an air pressure in the former and an air exhaust in the latter.

6. The combination with a doorway, of apparatus for maintaining a barrier of rapidly moving air having a sheet-like extent, said apparatus including a longitudinally apertured air-delivery pipe located adjacent the top of the doorway, a longitudinally apertured exhaust pipe located adjacent the bottom of the doorway, and connecting means between said pipes for maintaining a forced circulation of air therethrough.

7. The combination with a doorway, of apparatus for maintaining a barrier of rapidly moving air having a sheet-like extent, said apparatus including a longitudinally apertured air-delivery pipe located adjacent the top of the doorway, a longitudinally apertured exhaust pipe located adjacent the bottom of the doorway, mechanism for maintaining an air pressure in the former and an air exhaust in the latter, and means for Varying the direction of the air blast from said upper pipe. 4

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY H. CUMMINGS.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, EDWARD MAXWELL. 

